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Mojave River Valley Museum
Lieutenant Joseph Christmas Ives
Joseph Christmas Ives (1828–1868), soldier, botanist, explorer of the Colorado River in 1858.Ives was born in New York City in 1828 and was a graduate of the United States Military Academy in 1852. As a Lieutenant from 1853 to 1854 he was appointed by the U.S. Army to the Topographical Engineers as assistant to Lt. A.W. Whipple in the Pacific Railroad survey along the 35th parallel.
From 1857 to 1858 Ives commanded an expedition to explore up the Colorado River from its mouth. At Robinson's Landing he built then used the 54 foot paddlewheel steamboat Explorer to map and survey the river. His party included Smithsonian associate John Strong Newberry as geologist. He led his party up the Colorado to the lower end of the Grand Canyon, then struck out across the desert to Fort Defiance in Colorado. Ives Reported his findings in his 1861 Report upon the Colorado river of the West[1] The Ives expedition produced one of the important early maps of the Grand Canyon drawn by F. W. v. Egloffstein, topographer to the expedition.[2]
Ives next served as engineer and architect for the Washington National Monument from 1859 to 1860. During the American Civil War he joined the Confederate Army and served in several engineering capacities, and was finally appointed aide-de-camp to President Jefferson Davis from 1863 to 1865. After the war he settled in New York City where he died November 12, 1868.[3]
1.^ Joseph C. Ives, Report upon the Colorado river of the West, Washington, Government Printing Office, 1861. 2.^ Rio Colorado of the West / explored by 1st. Lieut. Joseph C. Ives, Topl. Engrs. under the direction of the Office of Explorations and Surveys, A. A. Humphreys, Capt. Topl. Engrs. in charge, by order of the Hon. John B. Floyd, Secretary of War ; drawn by Frhr. F. W. v. Egloffstein, topographer to the expedition. 3.^ Georgetown University - IVES FAMILY PAPERS source - wikipedia
More information:
Pertinent chapters (chapters 3 - 7) of Ives' official report, "Report upon the Colorado river of West.
Also see:
Beale Expedition
When, under orders from the Secretary of War, Lt. Joseph C. Ives, earlier with the Whipple Expedition, arrived at the mouth of the Colorado River with the ...
Chemehuevi, Mohave & Cahuilla Indians
Whipple and Ives, for the sake of some new and curious acquaintance-for which we shall be indebted to those intelligent and experienced path-finders-with ...
Indians of the Mojave Desert
Tribes of the 35th Parallel. Let us accompany Messrs. Whipple and Ives, for the sake of some new and curious acquaintance-for which we shall be . ...
Whipple Expedition
The Whipple Expedition, a large scientific expedition led by Lt. Amiel Weeks Whipple, Brevet Lt. J. C. Ives, and 2nd Lt. D. S. Stanley, which was the next ...
Military & Pioneer Period - Mohave Indians
The Whipple Expedition, a large scientific expedition led by Lt. Amiel Weeks Whipple, Brevet Lt. J. C. Ives, and 2nd Lt. D. S. Stanley, which was the next ...
Amiel Whipple
In 1858 Lieutenant Ives named a mountain range along the west bank of the Colorado River for Amiel W. Whipple. These mountains lie east to west in what is ...
Lake Mead
In 1855, Lt. Joseph Christmas Ives traveled the lower Colorado River in search of ... Following Ives, John Wesley Powell continued exploration of the upper ...
History of Hoover Dam
River explorers and mappers first came in January, 1858, under the leadership of Lt. Joseph Christmas Ives, who came up the Colorado by steamboat from the ...
Hoover Dam Chronology
Lt. J. C. Ives navigates the Colorado River and, with his steamboat The Explorer , reaches the end of Black Canyon. 1869. Major John Wesley Powell makes the ...
